Lawlor, Winston, White & Murphey Seeks to Uphold The Patients’ Right to Know Act in Case Against Northwest Medical Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 3, 2012 -- Margate, FL, December 13, 2011 – Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorney Andrew Winston of Lawlor, Winston, White & Murphey, Trial Lawyers is on the front lines of a battle to uphold The Patients’ Right to Know Act. The Act was approved by Florida voters seven years ago, and almost immediately afterward, hospitals began to scour the wording in search of ways to challenge the scope the amendment.

Winston is involved with a medical malpractice case involving Harlan Ginsberg of Coral Springs. During surgery at Margate’s Northwest Medical Center to remove kidney stones in 2006, Ginsberg says a doctor mistakenly cut a tube that delivered urine to his bladder and removed a kidney that another doctor testified was healthy.

Relying on The Patients’ Right to Know Act, Winston requested reports from Northwest Medical that document other patients’ “adverse medical incidents” of the type similar to Ginsberg’s. The hospital initially refused, then agreed to search its records at a cost of $77,550 to Mr. Ginsberg, effectively placing a roadblock in the case.

Though the Constitutional amendment is designed to provide patients access to reports dealing with botched medical procedures and poor care, hospitals cite a variety of reasons for not complying. Chief among those reasons is the common argument that the amendment is too vague about which documentation is required to be revealed. Hospitals also claim such records are exempt from disclosure because they are legally privileged.

In Ginsberg’s case, Northwest Medical’s attorneys called Ginsberg’s request “unduly burdensome” and said it would take the equivalent of at least 235 days just to research it. After months passed without a ruling from the judge, Winston withdrew the request to expedite trial.

“The hospital went to extraordinary lengths to prevent Mr. Ginsberg from obtaining the information he was entitled to under the Florida Constitution,” said Winston.

The Ginsberg case was tried in October, 2011, resulting in a defense verdict.

Aggressive law firms that specialize in injury and malpractice cases, such as Lawlor, Winston, White & Murphey, will vigorously challenge the hospitals who seek to impede access to patient records when medical errors are suspected.


About Lawlor, Winston, White & Murphey: Lawlor, Winston, White & Murphey are seasoned trial attorneys with a winning record of guiding medical malpractice victims through every detail of litigation and ensuring fair and reasonable treatment by accountable parties. The Lawlor, Winston, White & Murphey team has tried more than 100 jury trials and obtained verdicts, judgments and settlements in excess of $100 million for their clients. Please visit http://www.lawlorwinston.com/ or call 954.525.2345 for more information.

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